NWT Bureau of newstats Statistics Released: March 10, 2020 2020-08 ISSN-0827-3545

Volunteering 2019 NWT Community Survey

The NWT Community Survey asked residents of the Northwest Territories (NWT) about volunteer activities in the past year. As in previous surveys, the focus was on unpaid help provided to groups or organizations such as schools, religious & charitable organizations, and sports or community associations.

In 2018, about 39% or 13,561 NWT residents aged 15 years and older volunteered their time. The most common volunteer activity for both males and females was canvassing or fundraising (11%), followed by volunteering on a board or committee (10%), and teaching or mentoring (9.5%).

Figure 1: Volunteer Activity by Type and Sex, NWT 2018

Canvass or fundraise

Board or committee member

Teach, mentor or educate

Collect, serve or deliver food/goods

Coach or referee

Provide counsel or advice Male Female Maintain, repair or build

Office work

Fire-fighting or search & rescue

Other

- 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 # of persons

About 11% in the volunteer category ‘Other’ (Table 1) lived in Hay River or Fort Smith, most of whom volunteered in activities related to the 2018 Arctic Winter games. Also included in the ‘Other’ category were people who volunteered in community activities and events; home care & elder care and cultural and traditional activities.

Volunteers by selected characteristics

Overall, volunteer rates were higher Table 1: Volunteered, by Selected Characteristics, NWT, 2018 among people who did not identify Volunteered Persons 15 Volunteered 15+ hours as males or females (64%), females yrs. & Older % in 2018 % per month %

(42%), those aged 45 to 64 years Northwest Territories 35,046 100.0 13,561 38.7 2,405 17.7

(41%), and persons with a university Male 17,899 100.0 6,320 35.3 1,187 18.8 degree as their highest level of Female 17,000 100.0 7,146 42.0 1,218 17.0 education (60%). Other 146 100.0 94 64.4 - - 15 - 24 yrs 5,966 100.0 1,928 32.3 274 14.2 In addition to canvassing and 25 - 44 yrs 13,691 100.0 5,549 40.5 986 17.8 fundraising, youth aged 15 to 24 45 - 64 yrs 11,955 100.0 4,918 41.1 835 17.0 years were also more likely to 65 yrs and over 3,434 100.0 1,166 34.0 310 26.6 volunteer as coaches or referees; Less than high school 9,728 100.0 2,856 29.4 513 18.0 High School Diploma and to collect, serve or deliver food. 7,892 100.0 2,405 30.5 400 16.7 College or Trades 10,094 100.0 3,929 38.9 655 16.7 The main volunteer activities for University Degree 7,332 100.0 4,370 59.6 836 19.1 seniors (65 years & older) were serving as board or committee members as well as collecting, serving or delivering food or goods.

Employed persons (43%) were more likely to Figure 2: Volunteer rates, by Annual Personal Income volunteer compared to the unemployed (34%) and those not in the labour force (29%). Part-time $125,000 + workers (48%) had higher volunteer rates than those $100,000 to $124,999 working full-time (42%). $80,000 to $99,999 In 2018, volunteer rates tended to increase with $60,000 to $79,999 increasing personal income, from 32% among $45,000 to $59,999 persons who reported earning less than $20,000 per $30,000 to $44,999 year, to 56% among those earning $125,000 or more $20,000 to $29,999 (Figure 2). < $20,000 Among youth aged 15 to 24, current students (40%) 0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 were more likely to have volunteered compared to Percent (%) those who were not in school (24%).

Volunteer hours Of those NWT residents who volunteered, 15% volunteered less than 1 hour per month, on average, 39% volunteered between 1 to 4 hours, 28% volunteered 5 to 14 hours, and 18% volunteered 15 or more hours. While fire-fighting or search & rescue had the least number of volunteers at 867, volunteers in this category were more likely to put more hours per month. About 37% of fire- fighting or search & rescue volunteers gave 15 or more hours per month, compared to less than 29% for other volunteer activities.

Volunteers by community and region Regionally, the share of people who volunteered ranged from 34% in Tłı̨chǫ to 44% in Sahtu (Table 2). Communities with the highest volunteer rates were Ulukhaktok (59%), Enterprise (57%) and Sachs Harbour (54%). In smaller communities, serving or delivering food & goods together with canvasing and fundraising were the most common volunteer activities.

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Table 2: Selected Volunteer Activities, by Community, NWT, 2018 Volunteer Activity (%)

Canvass Board or Teach, Collect, serve Persons 15 Volunteered or committee mentor or or deliver & Older % in 2018 % fundraise member educate food/goods Northwest Territories 35,046 100.0 13,561 38.7 11.4 10.3 9.5 7.5

Beaufort Delta 5,311 100.0 2,125 40.0 12.6 7.4 8.6 9.7 Aklavik 474 100.0 139 29.3 13.9 7.9 7.4 11.1 Fort McPherson 591 100.0 215 36.4 23.9 2.4 2.4 3.2 Ulukhaktok 328 100.0 192 58.6 12.9 5.6 11.9 14.0 Inuvik 2,756 100.0 1,098 39.8 9.7 9.0 9.6 9.0 Paulatuk 215 100.0 111 51.4 15.0 7.6 16.1 10.5 Sachs Harbour 86 100.0 46 53.8 7.5 13.0 5.3 14.9 Tsiigehtchic 130 100.0 59 45.5 14.1 9.1 13.0 11.4 Tuktoyaktuk 730 100.0 264 36.1 13.2 5.2 7.0 13.2 Dehcho 2,697 100.0 984 36.5 7.4 7.4 7.6 9.5 Fort Liard 419 100.0 147 35.1 3.5 2.8 6.0 7.8 Fort Providence 635 100.0 278 43.9 8.8 5.9 9.7 16.6 Fort Simpson 1,088 100.0 369 33.9 8.5 9.9 8.3 6.0 Hay River Dene Reserve 251 100.0 98 39.0 9.8 12.1 4.1 12.1 Jean Marie River 61 100.0 17 27.4 2.3 4.6 7.8 - Nahanni Butte 82 100.0 30 36.2 3.0 5.1 7.4 10.0 Sambaa K’e 66 100.0 26 40.1 10.1 8.2 7.4 8.0 Wrigley 96 100.0 19 19.6 3.3 - 2.3 11.2 Sahtu 2,023 100.0 882 43.6 15.1 7.9 10.6 14.9 Colville Lake 92 100.0 45 48.6 4.4 1.1 11.5 22.5 Dé l ı̨ nę 447 100.0 218 48.8 12.7 4.0 10.8 12.8 Fort Good Hope 417 100.0 167 40.0 20.9 8.7 12.9 19.0 Norman Wells 651 100.0 293 45.0 15.2 11.7 8.6 10.1 Tulita 417 100.0 159 38.2 14.2 6.8 10.9 18.7 South Slave 6,125 100.0 2,562 41.8 15.2 12.0 10.3 9.2 Enterprise 88 100.0 50 57.3 18.3 11.6 16.1 23.7 Fort Resolution 433 100.0 162 37.4 11.8 7.6 9.8 6.3 Fort Smith 2,145 100.0 799 37.2 14.1 13.2 7.9 7.2 Hay River 3,172 100.0 1,406 44.3 16.2 12.4 10.8 9.0 Kakisa 33 100.0 17 52.6 8.1 20.3 34.5 12.2 Łutselk'e 255 100.0 128 50.3 16.6 3.7 19.3 28.5 T ł ı̨ chǫ 2,149 100.0 739 34.4 7.0 4.5 11.0 8.6 Gamètì 232 100.0 90 38.8 11.1 4.5 13.2 14.3 Behchokǫ̀ 1,438 100.0 453 31.5 4.2 5.1 8.8 4.1 Wekweètì 103 100.0 22 21.7 2.7 3.6 7.9 5.8 Whatì 376 100.0 173 46.0 16.2 2.7 18.9 23.0 Yellowknife area 16,739 100.0 6,270 37.5 10.4 12.1 9.4 4.9 Detah 178 100.0 52 29.5 8.6 5.3 10.4 17.8 Yellowknife 16,561 100.0 6,217 37.5 10.4 12.2 9.4 4.8 Ndilǫ 243 100.0 42 17.4 2.8 2.2 4.8 4.7

Note: People could be involved in multiple volunteer activities so the sum of categories will not add to totals.

For additional information on results from the 2019 NWT Community Survey, visit the NWT Bureau of Statistics website at www.statsnwt.ca or call 1-888-STATSNT (1-888-762-8768).

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